Dear Reader,

On paper, health seems simple: eat healthy foods, exercise regularly.

But in practice, it often feels anything but simple.

For many years I overate, underate, stressed about food, did every kind of exercise and diet that was supposedly life-changing, stressed about my body, and couldn’t find peace with it.

For a time, I believed that stressing about my health would be something I had to deal with forever, that I couldn’t escape it. But I’m glad I didn’t stop searching for answers.

By learning (and unlearning) some beliefs around health, I find myself today in a very different world– my health no longer feels like treading water hoping to stay above water, but a life where I can simply lean back and float.

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​​The 3 health beliefs I had to learn (and unlearn) to find balance

1. Find the one or two contaminating habits to quit

When it comes to personal health, and especially when we find ourselves in a desperate situation, we are often told that we must do a complete overhaul of our lives to become healthier. But I believe that 90% of our health struggles actually stem from one or two (what I like to call) contaminating habits– habits which lead to other bad habits.

This is why you find articles of people giving up beer, soda, cereal, or even social media, and they profess that it changed their life– and it does, because that one habit would set off a whole chain of reactions.

In Japan I saw that the way I lived (ie. unhealthy person at the time) and the way the average Japanese person lived (ie. healthy person) was 90% the same– minor changes can make major impacts.

Some common ones:

• Sleeping late/not getting enough sleep
• Too much social media
• Not

2. Forget progress, focus on the immediate payoff

When we talk about exercise, we often focus on the long-term outcome of it– getting toned, building muscle, losing weight, etc. But there is an immediate payoff: It makes us feel good.

One of my favorite events of the Japanese school year was Sports Day or undoukai (運動会). It’s a day where the entire school is split into two teams, red vs. white, and everyone competes against each other in a variety of games. Some are serious, like track and field, but others are there for simple fun like potato-sack racing.

Sports Day is a long-standing tradition part of the Japanese public school system. Fitness is simply celebrated for what it is, a playful way to exercise and be part of a community. No one’s talking about calories burned or building muscle, but celebrating movement for what it is.

3. Choose moderation over perfection

I talk about this often, so I’ll keep this one short: Harahachi-bunme as the key to a healthy diet. The psychology of portion sizes. Variety through ichiju-sansai.

There is no perfect way to eat, or maybe the perfect way to eat is one that embraces the imperfection. We’re human after all– balance is better.

Wherever you are in your health goals– maybe you just started, maybe you’ve been on the journey for years now– know that I’m rooting for you (and you should root for yourself too) 😊

Warmly,

Kaki

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